89 Jetta with no lap belts ?

I remember test-driving a Jetta in the early '90s in Eau Claire, Wisconsin that had only shoulder belts in front. It also had very large bolsters beneath the dash, which were supposed to take the place of the lap belts. Your knees would slam forward into the bolsters and keep you (hopefully) from submarining under the shoulder belt. A goofy, half-assed idea that I can't believe ever made it out of the idle daydream stage. It's the main reason I didn't buy that particular car. Anyway, I saw one, too, yours is a US car, not monkeyed with.

I believe your car has been monkeyed with. Cars not intended for the US had regular 3-point belts in the front. The shoulder-belt attached to the door combined with seat belt / starter relay interlock was a cheap way to have "Passive Restraint" without putting in air bags. Passive restraint was required in the US in '89, I am not aware of any other markets that required it back then. I know in '87 there was no passive restraint requirement, but for some reason I remember a friend's A1 Rabbit (bought used in '87) had the stupid shoulder-belt-attached-to-door system. Don't think he has the set belt - starter relay interlock, though.

Bentley (or even Haynes) may give some indication of where the lap belt should go. Perhaps a previous owner has replaced the seats and took the lap belts out at the same time?

This is how they came from the factory. Same as in old Rabbits - just a door-mounted shoulder belt and a knee bolster. They added the seperate lap belt in 90. Trades potential knee injuries for potential abdominal injuries....

In my 90, I always wear the lapbelt so I replaced the knee bolster with the older style storage bins.

Kevin Rhodes Westbrook, Maine

84 Jetta GLI 90 Jetta GLI

I thought US VW's had motorized shoulder belts and a lapbelt you "could" plug in - My dad's friends Passat was like this... And in the book on VWs I have (Volkswagen Chronical) apparantly other models in the VW line were like this in the US.

Our 1991 Canadian Golf had proper 3 points on all outboard locations and a lapbelt in the middle... I forget how our 1985 Golf was set up... I think basically the same.

My 89 Wolfsburg Jetta has both the shoulder and the lap. The lap does not self retract(obviously) and therefore you have a very long lap belt making clutter(IMHO).

One of the first things I did when I bought it was remove the lap belt from the drivers side and stow it in the garage for later if needed. Left the passenger's in case I have a passenger who needs it.

Mine was manufactured in Germany 1/89.

No - not monkeyed with. The passive shoulder belt and knee bolsters were installed in late 80s US A2s to meet federal standards for passive restraints. The lap belt didn't come along until slightly later (my '91 has it) but I have heard of those late 80s ones coming from the factory w/o a lap belt. Odd but true.

Lap belts were on the later cars with passive shoulder belts but not on the earlier cars with passive shoulder belts.

The shoulder belts were motorized on the Corrado and Passat but not on the A2 Golf/Jetta/GTI (fixed to one location on those cars at the upper rear edge of the front door).

Are you the original owner or did the P.O. mess with or add lap belts? The lap belts from the factory did retract.

I stand corrected.

My '87 GTi thankfully has regular 3-point belts in the front. Only lap belts in the back, the back seat sees perhaps 2 passengers a year.

My friend's old A1 Rabbit, as I stated earlier, had the n>

I am not the orig owner. I doubt the PO messed with the seat belts-he did not touch a single thing on this car(literally) especially the interior. The inside was entirely filled with cigarette butts and empty packs......

Either way the shoulder belt feels secure enough to make me not want to use the lap belt, hence I removed it.

I believe the passive belts in the Rabbit were an option actually and not standard. maybe it was something that VW was experimenting with to see if it had any desire among consumers. Granted, this was even before airbags so while in an airbag vs. passive belts situation, passive belts look downright silly and less desirable, but in the late 1970s and early 1980s passive belts might have been at least a novel option.

Now why VW deleted the lap belt for a while to only return with it again I dunno...that to me is weird. I envision the shoulder belt as keeing my torso and head from hitting the steering wheel but I still like the idea of a lap belt from letting my hips and pelvis slide forward too.

Passats and Corrados had the mechanised mouse belts, Golf and Jetta the door attached. I'm pretty sure it was JUST 89 that they didn't have the lap belts. I remember test driving a brandy-new Jetta diesel that had just the door belt back then. I would imagine that Canadian market cars never had that setup at all, as "automatic" seatbelts were an aberation of US "safety" law. From

89 to 92, car makers had a choice of auto seatbelts or airbags, after 92 airbags only. Not sure when the passenger airbag was required - 94? Though that doesn't explain VW messing around with the same setup in the early 80's Rabbits and Jettas.

I kind of like the door belts in my 90 GLI - you can pull the door shut with them... But I always use the lap belt, and I don't think they are quite as safe in an accident. Though I suppose if you are in an accident that is so severe that the door flies open, you are probably in a world fo hurt anyway.

Kev>I thought US VW's had motorized shoulder belts and a lapbelt you "could"

Screw VW's American anomaly and install a set of regular 3-point inertia belts from the junkyard, as used in billions of accidents around the world. Tried and tested - can't beat it. The holes are all there, you'll just need to snag the B-pillar interior trim to finish the job.

When taking seat belts from junkyard cars, it would not be a good idea to take them from cars with crash damage. Seat belts stretch when used in crashes to absorb some of the crash energy, so a seat belt used in a crash will be less effective the next time.

Last time I checked (which was over a year ago, but not terribly long ago), it was possible to order all the pieces parts from the dealer for about $150/side; it is a bit pricey for some people, but if you're thinking of it as a safety concern and you really want to switch away from the door belts (which, IMO, are not particularly cool in a 2-door and decidely stink in a 4-door; in a 4-door, the door belt mountpoint and my height combine for an air gap between my chest and the belt once I have the seat in a good driving position, and that can't be a good thing). You might also be able to get a 2-point to 3-point refit kit from the dealer a bit cheaper.

Oh, and if you do get used parts, make sure to get all the washers and bolts as well; the washers that go on the mount points on the a-pillars are pretty critical due to the air gap between the plastic trim and the metal pillar.

You don't even need that. The correct b-pillar trim is there...you just remove a snap-in plug from the hole.

I believe it was '96 as the Corrado was dropped from here after '95 and the '95 Corrado didn't have airbags.

I think the best bet is to buy new seatbelts... Why put your life into something that comes from the junkyard.